Galatians 5:22-23
"The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
One of the words that has been repeatedly used of Queen Elizabeth is faithfulness. She has been faithful to her vow to serve the nation, but also faithful to her husband and her family. Faithfulness is a wonderful word and these verses from Galatians remind us that its source is the Holy Spirit. God is perfectly faithful and so as we open our lives to him the fruit of the Spirit naturally grow in us. All the fruit flow from love and are an expression of love.
The world has changed so much in recent years. It used to be quite usual for people to stay in the same job for the whole of their working lives. Carriage clocks and gold watches were awarded to people on their retirement after decades in the same organisation. Marriage was seen as a life-long commitment between two people, to a far greater extent than is true today. We cannot put the clock back, but I do believe that we should continue to celebrate faithfulness wherever we find it. 
God is perfectly faithful. In Hebrew the key word is hesed which embraces both the words love and faithfulness. God supremely showed his loving faithfulness in the covenants that he established with his people. In Lamentations we read: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23) God can always be relied upon to be faithful but, sadly, that isn’t true of us. Hard as we might try to be faithful, we get distracted and slip up. 
Queen Elizabeth lived in the real world within which her own faithfulness was not always matched by the faithfulness of others. She witnessed many times of disappointment and brokenness, and especially within her own family. It is never easy to remain faithful and it wouldn’t have been so for her. But, inspired by her strong Christian faith, she remained faithful to the end. In her preface to the book “The Servant Queen and the King she serves” she wrote: “I have been – and remain – very grateful to God for his steadfast love. I have indeed seen his faithfulness.” I pray that we will allow her godly example to challenge, inspire and encourage us to live faithful lives.
Prayer: Lord God our Father, we praise you that you are always faithful. Fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit so that we will continue to be faithful to you and those around us throughout our lives. Amen

Released on 16 Sep 2022